So-called “Texas Holdem” (or “Hold-em” or “Hold'em”) is a multiplayer card game, based on a conventional 52-card deck, in which the objective is to make the best five card poker hand from a maximum of seven cards or to be the last player willing to play during any betting cycle. Like many card games, it can be played in a physical environment using physical cards, or in a computer environment in which the “cards” are digitally simulated. Thus, unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms “card” and “cards” as used herein shall refer both to physical cards and also to digitally simulated cards.
In a physical environment, the players are usually located in the same room, typically seated around a common table, with the cards being dealt by a dealer who may be a player or a non-player (e.g. a casino employee). In the computer environment, each player uses a player computer system having a remote communication connection (e.g. via one or more third party networks and/or the Internet) to a dealer computer system which simulates shuffling and dealing of the simulated cards using suitable algorithms.
The game format for Texas Holdem is as follows. Each player receives their “hole cards”, that is, the initial two cards that are dealt face down in a physical environment, or hidden from other players in a computer environment. The hole cards may be dealt, for example, from a deck of physical cards, or from a queue of computer-simulated cards.
Dealing of the hole cards is followed by a first “betting cycle”, which is the sequential wagering by the players of “currency”, with the sequence determined by the players' position in the game space. The players' position could be seats at a table in a physical environment, or a queue in a software program. The currency used is any agreed thing that has a value associated with it in the context of the game, regardless of whether it has monetary or other value in the world outside the game. For example, in a physical environment the currency can be money, chips (which may or may not be exchangeable for money), toothpicks, paperclips, peppercorns, or anything else on which the players agree. Moreover, no physical objects need be used, and instead an accounting of what has been wagered may be used. Likewise, in a computer environment the currency can be represented digitally, and may be money that can be redeemed in the larger world, points that have value only within the game (or a larger metagame of which the game is a part) or any other thing. In a computer environment the wagers are typically tracked and maintained by the dealer computer system.
For a given betting cycle, the initial action (wager) is by the player entitled to bet first (in a physical environment, this may be, for example, the player to the immediate left of the dealer). During the betting cycle a player may choose to match the bet, raise the bet or not participate in the game any further, i.e. to “fold”. Any currency risked during the betting cycle goes into the main prize pool, referred to as the “pot”. By “folding”, the player discards his or her hand (cards) and forfeits interest in the main prize pool.
Following the first betting cycle, a “flop”, which consists of three additional cards, is dealt. The flop cards are “community cards”, which are visible to all players and used in conjunction with hole cards to form poker hands. For example, if a player's hole cards were the Five of Diamonds (5♦) and the Eight of Clubs (8), and the flop cards were the Jack of Hearts (J♥), the King of Spades (K) and the Five of Hearts (5♥), the player could form a poker hand including a pair, namely the Five of Diamonds (5♦) and the Five of Hearts (5♥). The flop may be dealt, for example, from a deck of physical cards, or from a queue of computer-simulated cards.
After the flop, there is a second betting cycle during which remaining (i.e. non-folded) players can again match, raise or fold.
After the second betting cycle, a further community card, referred to as the “turn card” or “turn”, is dealt. Like the hole cards and flop cards, the turn card may be dealt, for example, from a deck of physical cards, or from a queue of computer-simulated cards. Continuing the above example, if the turn card were the Five of Spades (5), the player could now form a “three of a kind” poker hand, namely the Five of Diamonds (5♦), the Five of Hearts (5♥) and the Five of Spades (5). The turn card is also sometimes referred to as “Fourth Street” because it is the fourth community card.
After dealing the turn card, a third betting cycle takes place, followed by the dealing of a further community card referred to as the “river card” or “river”. Because it is the fifth community card, the river card is sometimes called “Fifth Street”. Continuing further with the above example, if the river card were the Eight of Hearts (8♥), the player could now form a “full house” poker hand, namely the Five of Diamonds (5♦), the Five of Hearts (5♥) and the Five of Spades (5) together with the Eight of Clubs (8) and the Eight of Hearts (8♥). The complete set of community cards, in this case the flop, the turn and the river, is sometimes referred to as the “board”.
After the river card is dealt, a fourth betting cycle takes place, after which the player with the best poker hand is determined to be the winner and receives all proceeds from the main prize pool accumulated during the betting cycles. Each player's best poker hand is the best poker hand that they can assemble by combining their hole cards with selected community cards; in some cases a player's best poker hand may simply be the five community cards and such a player is said to “play the board”. If at any time during the process there is only one player willing to continue, i.e. if all other players have folded, that player receives the proceeds.
Thus, the procedure is as follows:
Hole cards;
First betting cycle;
Flop;
Second betting cycle;
Turn card;
Third betting cycle;
River card;
Fourth betting cycle;
Winner is determined.
In some embodiments where the game is played in a physical environment, so-called burn cards are used. A burn card is a card dealt from the top of the deck, unseen and unused by the players, between dealing of the hole cards and dealing of the flop, between dealing of the flop and dealing of the turn card, and between dealing of the turn card and dealing of the river card. The use of burn cards developed in the context of games in which one of the players also served as the dealer, and worked to alleviate concerns that the dealer may have engaged in subterfuge, chicanery, skullduggery or other acts of malfeasance. Burn cards are sometimes still used.
The above provides merely an overview of the structure and basic terminology of Texas Holdem, and is not intended to be limiting, as a wide range of variations may be adopted.
In many cases, Texas Holdem games are administered by a business enterprise, such as a licensed casino or the operator of an online gaming system, i.e. the host of a dealer computer system to which player computer systems can establish a remote communication connection. The business enterprise that administers the game will typically draw some sort of revenue from the game. For example, a licensed casino may draw a “rake”, that is, a percentage of each pot, possibly up to a maximum amount. As another example, a host of a dealer computer system may charge each player a fee for each game in which they participate. In all cases, the manner in which revenue is obtained will depend on how the game is administered, which to some extent will be dictated by the requirement to comply with all relevant gaming laws. Of course, the business enterprise will need to provide resources for the game, such as a table (and possibly a dealer) in the case of a licensed casino, or computer resources (e.g. one or more servers and a communication architecture) in the case of an operator of an online gaming system. To the extent that the utilization of these resources for revenue generation can be increased, the efficiency of the gaming system will be improved. Just as empty seats on an airplane represent wasted resources in an air travel context, empty seats at a poker table, or unused server and communication capacity in an online gaming system, represent wasted resources in a gaming context.